Taking Your Personal Branding Along for the Interview

Last week, Interview.com published a guest article of mine called Personal Branding: Don’t Leave Home Without It. The main point of the article was to highlight that although job seekers often spend a great deal of time these days thinking about and crafting their “personal brand,” they often aren’t sure of how to incorporate it into the interview process.

As an add-on to that discussion, I want to point out something important about this phrase “personal branding.” I know some career colleagues who can’t get enough of using it. Others treat it with great disdain. And some who try their best to ignore it altogether.

The problem is that no matter how we feel about the phrase, it is here, at least for now, and is the term of the hour. What matters most is how you define it.

Personal Branding Is About Solving Problems

Yes, problems. The same is true for company branding. If a company wants to be successful in marketing itself to potential clients, it has to be answer the fundamental question, “why do I need you?” And the best way to answer it is by convincing the client, the company’s product or service can solve a problem or problems that the potential client has.

The same is true for personal branding.

An interviewer is essentially asking, “Why do I need you?” And the last thing he or she wants to hear is “because I’m good” or “because I’m a hard worker.” No, the interviewer wants to know how you can meet needs and solve problems. In other words, what value do you bring to that environment?

The ITtechExec Way

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